Well, I have been using Vector Linux 4.3 for a long while now, and I finally got a computer upgrade, so I didn't really need the extra speed it gave. Plus I kinda botched binutils...so I finally moved over to Slackware 10.1 (been meaning to for a long time). I got the 2.6.x kernel installed from current, a nice Windowmaker setup (so 90s it's beautiful).
My only issue so far is that the kb/s rate of downloads seems to plummet steadily from the time I start the download. That coulda just been an issue with my provider yesterday, I'm gonna try it again when I get home. But off the top of their head does anyone know why this would be? (missing packages, misconfigured network, etc.)
Thanks, and it's great to be using such an old trusted distro.

It is completely normal, the speed of the download is usually not changing, it is just a miscalculation of the initiial speed.

EDIT: Update

It turns out this was competely an ISP related issue. I tested and found the slowdown on Windows XP (same computer), but also a seperate laptop.
Feels like a throttle from too much upstream BitTorrent traffic or from too many hours of streamign music
Thanks for the help though!